Shawarma and where things went from there
by F1nd-M3
Summary: After shawarma, the Avengers knew they had a long couple of weeks coming up. Loki, Budapest, the Bahamas, SHEILD, and what ever else comes next. Established Blackhawk, Pepperony, Jane/Thor
1. Chapter 1

After shawarma, the group known as the Avengers, despite what Stark had said about taking a day off, knew they had a long week or two coming up. But the most pressing matter was dealing with Loki. They walked(as they would say, but in reality, they were all limping and leaning heavily on each other) to the tower, where they went upstairs to find one very sore God of Mischief trying to find out how to operate the elevator, while a few Loki-sized dents were scattered on the floor. The billionaire, playboy, genius, philanthropist, somehow procured a set of handcuffs. When Loki protested, Barton sighted his arrow towards a piece of anatomy that would most definitely ruin the god's nights if he loosened, and Ironman repeated his earlier line with a small addition,

"We have a Hulk, do not make me taze him."

Bruce managed not to flinch, and after that, the god obliged. After Loki was cuffed, Clint still had to lower his bow. Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, laid a very gentle, unassassin-like, and very out of character hand on his arm, pushing down until the arrow point was facing the ground. Tony was otherwise occupied, ushering the god into his elevator, trying to talk Steve Rodgers into carrying him potato sack style. Thor was arguing with Stark, saying that his brother deserved more respect. So Bruce was the only one that saw the exchange, and he was a good enough person to not comment.

In the end Tony won the argument, and Steve entered the elevator with Loki thrown across his shoulder. The "Glow stick of Destiny" was still on the roof, and Loki had no doubt that the Avengers would carry out the threats. Natasha's hand was still on Clint's arm, the two engaged in a silent conversation, with certain statements whispered in different languages, to convey more meaning.

"_Clint, please relax. Loki is not going to hurt you." _the fiery redhead said in Latin.

The archers eyes where haunted, even if his face conveyed no emotion. Natasha had been his partner for over eleven years, and could read him like an open book. The look she gave him was the trademark Black Widow glare. That face was the last thing that many men saw.

"Damn it! _If you do not stop blaming yourself, we are back to Budapest and then we have a serious problem. We will deal with this later, just like we had to in Budapest." _she snapped in Russian, knowing that her best friend would know that she really meant it, when she reverted to her native language.

"You and I remember Budapest very differently, Nat" he said in English, masking his eyes to a look of indifference, letting the Widow know that she had been successful. But the volume and language alerted Tony to their conversation. His head wiped towards them, but the elevator doors where already closing, so he could not interrogate the two. Thor, Steve, and Loki had been in the elevator with Tony, so the only man in the room still was Bruce.

"Tony has a car downstairs that we can use, he wants to get Loki to SHEILD as soon as he can." He stated, even though Natasha knew full well what had been going on. She was an assassin, and the Red Room had made sure that nothing in a room went on without her noticing. A tiny shudder went over her as she remembered the bastards that had made her to the ruthless killing machine the Black Widow was meant to be. From the glance that Clint gave her, the woman knew that she would be hearing of that rare show of emotions later.

* * *

Then the elevator dinged, signifying its arrival, and the remaining inhabitants of the floor shuffled in. When the assassins reached the garage, they saw enough cars to rival any car dealer anywhere. He had cars that ranged from sleek Jags to Jeeps, Ferraris to Fords. Tony was motioning them over to a Jeep that clearly had eight seats. There was a small problem with that, so Natasha motioned for Steve to do the natural thing. They shoved Loki into the back of the car, while the Avengers occupied the seats. No one would want to have an evil god who had just tried to kill them all sandwiched between them.

Thor and Steve sat in the back, because now that the god lacked his scepter, they would be able to deal with him the quickest. Tony naturally drove, and Tasha took shotgun. As Clint and Bruce got themselves situated, Tony paused.

"Hey, guys, I just realized a bit of a problem."  
"And what would that be genius?" Nat asked, voice dripping with venom. The adrenaline had long since worn out of her system, so she was tired, filthy, and hurt. All that she wanted was to shower, get her wounds taken care of, and then she wanted to collapse into bed, and if anyone disturbed her for at least twelve hours afterwards, she would shoot them, consequences be damned.

"We have no way to get to SHEILD." He stated. A muffled chuckle could be heard in the back seat, so Clint took the pen he had found on the floor and threw it to the back, where it rebounded off of the back window and then a muffled _oomph_ could be heard, since the pen had undoubtedly hit him in the face.

"My com broke in battle." The cap' said.

"I never got a com." Bruce that time.

"What is this com you speak off?" Thor asked rather loudly.

"I dropped mine when I fell into a window." Clint stated.

"Mine's receiving too much interference, the frequencies switched in some explosion or other during the battle." Natasha's answer came, precise as always.

"And mine was in my suit's faceplate. Well, shit." Tony said regretfully. "Wait… JARVIS, do we have any way to contact SHEILD?"

"Of course sir, right away." The cultured voice of the AI responded instantly.

"Avengers! Where the _HELL_ have you been? Radio silence for two hours? Where the hell are you! Get your sorry asses back to base NOW!" Fury's voice filtered through the speakers of the car, sounding rather, well furious.

"Well sir, all of coms where damaged in some way or another during the battle. And as to where we are, we are at Stark's. And getting to the base, we might have a bit of a problem with that." Steve reported, ever the captain.

"And why is that Mr. Rodgers?"

"Well sir, we have no means of getting up to the hellicarrier, seeing as some of us are rather earthbound." Natasha deadpanned.

The Director sighed. "Thank you for summing that up agent Romanoff. Just find a way to get to that place by the coast. And before you comment Stark, Romanoff and Barton know that place very well. There will be a jet waiting to pick you up in ten. Fury out."

"What place?" Stark asked, confused, a rare occurrence.

Nat had turned in her seat to look at her partner. "Do you think he means.." she trailed off.

"Yep, he does. Thank you Fury for bringing us there. We just have to try to not repeat the Bahamas." Clint mumbled remembering the time that their Quinjet had been hit in the tail with a missile coming back from a mission in the Bahamas. By some miracle, the plane was able to fly up to Manhattan, but then crashed into an abandoned warehouse district.

"I would say that would be hard, seeing as we are in a car, but, witch the people in said car, there is a very high possibility of an explosion." The Black Widow said with a grimace.

"I would ask, but I would like to avoid explosions at all costs." Bruce commented.  
"Well I want to know!" Tony whined.

"Shut up and drive Stark. Get us to the Hilton by Battery Park, and then I'll tell you where to go." Widow snapped, at the end of her patience yet again.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of traffic my story got. This is my first fic, so I was really nervous when I published it. I would like to thank my reviewers, your words are gold, and they help me a lot. So thank you Sarcastic Musician, Gabby, the guest who reviewed, and IaMcHrIsSi. A thanks also goes out to all followers/favoriters. I seriously do a happy dance every time I see the amount of readers, and the places that my story has been read from. Thank you all for your support. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! If I did, there would already be a Blackhawk movie. As it is, the plot is ruled by the characters and what they want.**

**This is getting long, so here is how things continue.**

* * *

They reached the area in question about an hour later, and it looked the exact same way the assassins had left it, sans the jet remains. A bright and shiny new jet waited to carry the team up to base. They all shuffled on, even Thor, who could fly, but that was only if he could muster the energy. He muttered something about needing sustenance, but promptly fell asleep. As for Loki, they tossed him into the corner, where a half dozen SHEILD agents glared at him, guns leveled at his head. Not super cool "What does this button do" prototype gun like Coulson had blasted him with earlier, but standard SHEILD issue hand guns.

They almost made it to the hellicarrier in silence. But NO, Stark had to start talking.

"Soo... what happened in the Bahamas? No, wait, more importantly, what happened in Budapest?"

"Stark, the day you gain level 10 clearance, without hacking into SHEILD's databases, will be the day that we will tell you the assignment. The day we tell you what actually happened, will be when Clint and I both are under the table drunk, on the verge of passing out. And I am Russian, so that might be a little hard. But before you go trying to single Clint out for drunken interrogation, he has been drinking with me for years, so he can hold his alcohol. And don't bother trying to hack into SHEILD to find out what happened. They don't even know." Natasha responded, meaning every word. To outsiders, even Fury, what happened in Budapest stays in Budapest. As for the survivors…what happened then would never leave them. It would always affect them. Not even in death would they forget.

"Thank you for that Nat," Clint grumbled, and the person in question merely inclined her head to him. "And all that you need to know about the Bahamas is that our plane took on some damage, and we crashed back in the pick-up zone." He finished.

Tony's only response was mumbling something along the lines of ordering some nice Russian vodka, and organizing a drinking game night.

* * *

Any further comments were cut off by the arrival of jet. The second their feet hit the flight deck, Loki was taken back to the holding cell, with around the clock guards, and the Avengers where all but carried into the medwing. All pain had been pushed to the corner in front of Loki, but it resurfaced in the presence of medics.

One of the doctors that had obviously only been there for a few days approached Natasha and Clint, meaning to treat them. Tasha leveled him with a death glare, and the man looked around anxiously, not knowing what he had done wrong. He knew the two only by the rumors in SHEILD, most likely the ones where they used agents for target practice (mostly untrue) and that if any new recruit displeased them, they threw them off the helicarrier (not true at all! The idiot FELL because Clint had yelled at him for almost crashing a jet!). However, when the pair was wounded and exhausted, they would cause injury to anyone who crossed them. Such as the man in front of them. There was a young nurse standing a little off to the side of the medical frenzy, holding a rather large first aid kit in hand, and she stepped in and shooed the man before he himself needed to be treated. She handed Romanoff the case, and Barton flashed her a grateful grin.

The spy's had been suspicious of hospitals from the beginning of their lives as assassins, and for Romanoff, that meant her whole life. It probably had to do with the fact that, as spies, they had blended seamlessly into the hospital environment more times than they could count (even if they remembered the little things of all of them), and only once was it to protect. Needless to say, the longtime partners had never liked being at someone else's mercy while they were at their weakest, unless it was someone they trusted explicitly. And the trust of the assassins was not given out lightly. The only people that they had ever trusted were each other, Fury, Hill, and Coulson. And now he was gone. Another one of the Budapest survivors had left them.

On the rare occasion that one of them was taken into the ward, it was because they were near death. But this was not one of those cases. Especially after what had happened with Loki, the last thing that Clint needed was someone that he didn't know touching him. So they took the kit and turned to the hall that would get them out of the medward, and to their quarters.

"Where are you two going?" Cap' called after them, "You still need to be treated. You two are kinda the only ones in this group that can get mortally wounded."*

"What about me!" Stark asked, disappointed that he was being left out of anything.

"You wear a suit that is practically missile proof. You really only get bruises and broken bones. You don't get to bleed that much." Bruce said, following Steve's line of thought. After that, Tony fell silent, sad that his Sciencebro hadn't taken his side.

"Well?" Captain America asked, wanting to know.

Nat and Clint had paused, turning to watch the exchange. There was a moments silence as the question hung, and a small silent debate passed between the two.

_Telling him might scare him_ Nat's gaze said.

_He just saved the world with us, which means he has seen us at our worst. I don't think he would mind_ Clint shot back, now using sign language to get more across.

_He is a trusting person, and he is not capable of healing himself if he doesn't trust the medics. _She quickly signed back.

_Please Nat. I have to get out of here quickly. Just tell him so we can leave. _ Clint signed out in response.

The look she gave him next saw everything he was feeling. It saw the emotions threatening to break his control if he was around people much longer. It was a look that only a person that knows and cares about you the most could give you.

Just as the Captain was about to ask again, Natasha spoke.

"You can't trust medics, Cap. Not in our line of work."

Steve might have said more, but with that, they turned the corner, effectively terminating the conversation.

* * *

***I have always wondered how Tony gets to be as injured as he does in his suit.**

**A/N-I love reviews, they fuel my muse. Please let me know what you think! I am open to suggestions for what you want to happen next. Budapest and Blackhawk in the next chapter. I just needed to set it up. Thanks for reading. Ciao!**

**-F1nd_M3**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all so much for the reviews. I love the traffic that this story is getting, and I hope the numbers continue to rise. Thanks to my reviewers: IaMcHrIsSi, jgomez921, MagicGirl41, LauraJenCC, Beguilingirl, Hamsta97, and Morgan. I really love to know that people actually like my story.**

**LauraJenCC-Sorry, I am the only one proofing this, and spelling was never my strong suit. I will get right on it.**

**IaMcHrIsSi- I can't put it in this chapter, or in the next two, but I already have an idea for a reunion, so I will get that up soon. It will take place after all Budapest flashbacks, and Pepper will come to the carrier.**

**Disclaimer-I own nothing. I wish I did, but I don't. **

* * *

There was silence as Natasha and Clint walked the hallways of SHEILD. Most agents where down in New York, working cleanup, and those that were left gave the pair a wide birth, knowing what Hawkeye had done hours earlier. The handful agents that gave Barton death glares and suspicious looks soon found themselves at the receiving end of a knife that would always just miss a vital organ. Where Black Widow got the knives, no one would ever know.

Their rooms where right across the hall from each other, but more time was spent in Clint's room than Natasha's. The first aid kit got tossed onto the bed haphazardly, and the pair looked at each other, categorizing the wounds that were visible.

"Off" Tasha commanded, motioning to Clint's clothes. Wincing as he did so, Clint pulled off his shirt, and started on his pants.

"You too, Red" Clint stated, when he was down to just his underwear. Natasha unzipped her cat suit, and very slowly began to peel it from her skin. Afterwards, Nat went to the first aid kit, and pulled out a pair of tweezers, Clint sat on the bed, with his back to her, so she could remove the glass from his back.

"What were you thinking?" She asked, removing yet another shard. "Last time I checked, crashing into a window isn't the best thing to do when in a battle."

"Wasn't exactly thinking. The chitauri where coming at me and the closest building just happened to have a lot of glass." He told her, gritting his teeth.

She didn't respond, just motioned towards the bathroom.

"No shrapnel?" he asked.

She shook her head, and he stumbled towards the bathroom to take a shower. This was how they always did it. All shards would be removed, and instead of wasting to much antiseptic, they would shower, and then get bandaged up by the other. It had been that way since their third mission together as partners, in Rio de Janero.

Clint emerged from the shower fiveish minutes later, with a clean pair of underwear on, and Natasha went to the bathroom. Five minutes later, she emerged, in a sports bra and panties. They worked from top to bottom, him stitching the small cut on her face, and her bandaging his shoulder. When he reached her foot, he frowned.

"What happened? I don't remember anything in the battle that would have resulted in any ankle injury." Clint asked concern in his voice.

"It happened before the battle. When Bruce hulked out, a beam fell on it. It's probably just fractured." She told him, leaving out the fact that it had been his explosion that had caused the Other Guy to pay the helicarrier a visit.

"Is it the same one, from Budapest?" asked Clint

"Yes" Widow hissed as the Hawk gently prodded it.

"What is it about Budapest that you and I recall differently? You mentioned it in the battle, and then again at Stark towers." Nat asked, as Clint finished wrapping and splinting her ankle, and it was indeed was fractured.

He leaned towards her, until their foreheads were touching, pressing a light kiss to her lips.

"First you tell me what you remember."

She kissed him, harder than before, and begun her version of the tale from Budapest.

"Well, you remember the hotel, then surveillance'" she began

* * *

_Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Max Evens, and Jesse Ramerez, two of SHIELD's newer recruits landed in Budapest around 10, and then went to the hotel where SHIELD had booked them a room. When they arrived, they found a room with two Queen sized beds, and a pullout couch._

_ "Why does SHIELD pay for rooms like this when we could just as easily have a room each?" Coulson asked, even though he knew the answer._

_ "Because Fury doesn't like us." Clint joked. _

_ "Well, Jesse and Max get one bed, Clint and Natasha get the other, and I get the couch." Coulson decided, and Clint tossed his bags onto one bed, while Natasha put hers at the foot._

_ "Why doesn't the woman get the couch? Jesse asked, and Natasha glared at him. _

_ "Natasha and Clint have been in far worse sleeping situations than having to share a bed, You and Evans are friends, and I don't want to sleep with any of you. That and I said so."_

_ Clint chuckled, "Hey Nat, remember South Africa?"_

_ "That tree was much better than Togo. Remember those rocks?" Widow immediately responded._

_ No one else knew what they were talking about, but Clint winced, still chuckling. Widow, Hawk, and Coulson fell into a routine of stashing weapons all over the room, and checking for cameras. Guns and knives went behind the bed, in the closet, under the mattress, in the couch cushions, even in the mini fridge. And the weapons that Clint and Tasha hid, those where from the bag that they shared, full of weapons just to hide around. Both carried one separate from that with weapons for Black Widow and Hawkeye. After Coulson was finished hiding his weapons he helped Jesse and Max, getting them into the swing of field work. Afterwards, they discussed what had to be done for the mission. _

_ Their goal was to take down the circle of human traffickers that supplied victims for suicide bombings, smuggling things in and out of places, you name it. Their strongest business was in young females, so that was what they were going to use to go in. The leader, Nicodemeus Hunter, preferred red-heads, which was very convenient. There was a big benefit ball being hosted two nights from then, and Hunter was going to be there. They had one day to get a ticket, and for surveillance. The ball would just be for luring the man in. They would wait until they were certain that the Black Widow had gotten all information from him, one way or another, before they killed him. Then they would take down whomever of Nicodemeus's inner circles where in Budapest, then head home. It was a simpler mission, to help Evans and Ramirez._

_ Max and Jesse were in charge of getting tickets. Clint was going to recon the building the ball was going to take place in, seeing as he would yet again be the eyes in the sky. Natasha was going to find as much about Hunter as she could so that she could become his perfect woman. Coulson was going to oversee everything, and he would be attending the ball as either Romanoff's brother or husband, depending on what Hunter liked._

_ The assassins did their recon together, like always. He pair blended seamlessly into the shadows of Nicodemeus's house, Clint watching the door of the office, while Natasha hacked into Hunter's laptop. He had sent plenty of emails to his sister in Africa, who was down there running the "Family Business". SHIELD would have to look into this Anya chick. Clint pulled a USB out of his suit and tossed it to Nat, who then copied Nicodemeus's hard drive to it, and tossed it back to Clint, and it disappeared into the uniform again. She then went back to the email, to find all correspondence to lovers._

_ They had a laugh at all of his corny lies, such as _

_ "I will see you again, even if it takes us to the end of time", _

_ "If you fall in your attempts to follow your dreams, I will be there to catch you, and put you back on your feet,"_

_ Or their personal favorites," I will call you back," and "Dinner will be on me next time."_

_ Yeah, as if. But they most definantly got what they needed. All of Hunter's girls where curvy, foreign, red headed, and taken. All of them where promised to someone, and completely untouchable. Which was perfect, because Natasha could do all of that. And Anastasia Baldacci could do it even better._

_ As for the location of the hotel, it was such a perfect location, that the pair had time to enjoy some vodka before heading back to the hotel that they were staying. The Yearly benefit for a local orphanage was held in an open garden, in the Marriot. There were three perfect surveillance points around: one on top of the Marriot, one on top of the office building next door, and in the balcony on the 30__th__ floor of the apartment building a little down the street._

_ The night before the ball, everything was ready. Evans and Ramirez had the tickets, Coulson had all of his computers set up, Clint new exactly where he and the newbies where going to survey from, and Natasha knew exactly who to be. It was a perfect and easy mission to show to new recruits how SHIELD did things. _

_ When the ball came, Natasha Romanoff, now Anastasia Baldacci, who was wearing a very tight and rather revealing black floor-length number, entered at the arm of Phil Coulson, now David Baldacci, who was wearing a tux and a discontented look. Anastasia was very quiet, and obedient to her abusive husband, David. While Anastasia came out to play, Natasha retreated inside herself, laughing silently at Clint's thoughts on all of the people around her. Coulson showed no reaction, but Natasha and Clint knew he was amused. Max and Jesse had no idea what was going on, but chuckled to Clint's jokes._

_ "That fat one next to you, he has a wife that he goes home to, and then they have sex like in 'This Means War', the scene with the Cheetos and all that."_

_ "The guy by the door, trying to look all badass, obviously is a Man in Black, trying to spot out aliens."_

_He continued as David asked Anastasia to dance, and she complied immediately. After a bit, David got distracted by a female, exactly thirty minutes after Hunter arrived, when Clint said that he had greeted everyone. After Hawkeye had "analyzed" everyone, he started to explain to the two other men on roofs exactly what was going on, why Widow did everything she did, why Coulson did what he did, and why he kept the mood light._

_ Down at the bar, Anastasia ordered a martini, and put her face into her hands with a sigh. About halfway through her drink, Nicodemeus came over to her, motioning to the bartender to get her another drink._

_ "You do not look well Mrs. Baldacci." He stated_

_ "Oh, it is nothing sir! Thank you for the drink." Anastasia stated hastily, glancing around nervously._

_ "Please tell me. If you are looking for your husband, he just went to a room with Ms. Ride." Nicodemeus assured._

_ " Thank you Mr. Hunter, sir. I am just weary. It has been a long week." She sighed, looking relieved that her husband was gone._

_ "A woman like you should never have to be stressed. What is wrong."_

_ "I am afraid I can't tell you, but thank you for caring. If I tell anyone, I will have to pay a price."_

_ "Well, I can respect that. I myself am a man of many secrets. Please call me Nicodemeus. Tell me a bit about yourself…_

_A few drinks later…_

_ The Black Widow was in no way tipsy, and was perfectly rational. Coulson had left Ms. Ride, and gone to the roof that Clint was on to survey. Clint was feeding her some of the things to say, using old jokes, old covers, and the worst jokes he could think off, to keep her entertained. Coulson didn't know what half of them meant, and Max and Ramirez where so lost._

_ But at that point, a normal woman would be drunk, so Anastasia was very giggly. Nicodemeus tried again to find out her secret._

_ "Ana, my dear, please tell me why you are so guarded and cautious. I will not tell a soul." He prompted._

_ Anastasia sighed, saying, "My husband. He beats me, when he doesn't get what he wants, when something goes wrong, and sometimes for no apparent reason at all. I am very fearful of him. I can't leave him, because he would find me." Nat just loved playing wimps. It was so much fun to confuse SHIELD's agents, when the assassin turned into a simpering mess on the floor. It was even better when the senior agents played along._

_ "We must do something about that. You deserve so much better." Hunter gasped._

_ "No, please no! He would kill me if he knew I told someone." She said, glancing down at her watch, and gasping. "I really must go! I must be home by 10, before he goes to bed. I am sorry. I really loved talking to you! You made me feel…normal again. Thank you."_

_ "Wait, my sweet Anastasia. I can give you a ride to your house."_

_They left, and Tasha made him stop a block away. Clint had followed by jumping on the rooftops, whereas the others just headed back to the hotel. Nicodemeus invited her to lunch the next day, at two, and then kissed her. Clint wanted nothing more than to shoot him, but he knew better than to jeopardize a mission. _

_ Natasha turned the corner, dropping all hints of Anastasia Baldacci with a sigh. Clint dropped from the building next to her, after having watched Hunter drive away._

_ "Phil is checking the names you got. Well done my spider." He said._

_ The pair had been dating since their third year as partners, and had celebrated their two year anniversary right before they left for Budapest. They continued on the way to the hotel with Clint's arm thrown over Natasha's shoulders, the perfect image of a young couple returning from a party. A move like that would have gotten anyone else killed, but not him. There was a certain bond between the two. Whenever one was in trouble, the other would get one of those cold shivers. They trusted each other completely, with no reserves. If Clint told Natasha to jump off a roof, she would. That move had been developed in Monaco, jumping out of some idiots window, a little over a year ago. SHIELD knew that they were two assassins that worked flawlessly together, but they had no idea what was really going on between the two._

_ "Let's get some sleep my Hawk. This mission isn't over yet."_

* * *

**So, Natasha's side of Budapest isn't over, but the chapter was getting a little long for my liking. I will try to get the rest up in this week, but no promises. If you got the Max and Jesse reference, I LOVE YOU! I also love suggestions, and PLEASE tell me your honest opinion, if you see something wrong, or if you hate this story. All reviewers will receive a free invisible backed good of their choice! Caio!**

**~F1nd_M3**


	4. Chapter 4

**I love all of the favorites, follows and reviews! Thanks to IaMcHrIsSi, Gabby, Guest, PercyJacksonTheAwesome, and geekychick1999 for reviewing!**

**PercyJacksonTheAwesome- I don't think it was purposeful. I needed a name and the book Hells Corner was sitting on my shelf. Eheheheheh….yeah. Thanks for the review.**

**I'm just going to say this now: This is my favorite chapter to write so far, and in the foreseeable future, there will only be one chapter that ties with this. This doesn't mean that you have to like it as much as I do, but I just thought I would get you excited for this installment of my story. NOW GO READ!**

**Disclaimer: Why must you exist? I still don't own these characters, and everyone knows this.**

* * *

"After Hunter drove me to the block, and we walked home…" Natasha continued

* * *

_ The next day, at 2, Anastasia arrived at a café called La Petite,to find Hunter waiting for her. They made small talk while they ordered and waited for their food to come. Then Nicodemeus laid his cards on the table._

_ "My dear Anastasia, I think I now a way I can help you. You can work with me to sell my cargo, and I have some very thorough ways to hide you from your husband. You would be paid very generously, in case you needed to leave the business."_

_ "I wish there was a way out of what is happening to me, but there is none. There is nothing you could do to hide me from my husband, I am afraid. You really should forget me, Nicodemeus. The last person who tried to help me was killed. I do not want that to happen to you."_

_ "Oh Ana, but here is a way to escape. I have connections everywhere. If you wanted, I could even have your husband killed. You would be perfect for my business. You and I could lead it together."_

_ "What is it that you sell? I want to accept this deal, but I am wary. My father was murdered because he accepted what seemed like the perfect deal. I would need know what I am getting into. And what of your people… your connections. How am I to know that they will not hurt me?"_

_ "If you accepted, I would show you what we sell. Some people in the government do not like the way that we are helping people, so I cannot tell everyone. As for the men, you have no need to worry about them. They are all extremely loyal to me, and would never hurt someone I cared for. They also fear my sister's wrath. She is very protective of everyone. If you joined my business, you would never be harmed again."_

_ "Please give me time to think about it. I think that I will, but I need to make sure that it is what I want. I know how covering trails works. All that I am would be taken away. I need to make sure that I am strong enough for that."_

_ "I understand how hard it is too loose everything. But I can't wait forever. I will wait for your response at the small park near where you live tomorrow at 6. If you do not show up, I will assume it is a no."_

_ "But so soon? Nic, I-"_

_ "I need to leave in two days for business. I need an answer by then, or you will have to stay here with Mr. Baldacci. I hope you make the right choice."_

_ And with that he walked out._

_ "Psh, what an ass." Clint said as he walked into the restaurant. Natasha motioned the waitress over, and ordered two lattes._

_ "Ah, we've faced worse" Natasha replied._

_ "That we have my spider. That we have."_

_ They finished their drinks and then walked back to their hotel._

_ "We got some bad news. The word is there is a mole. You remember that man, Bill, who defected a few years ago to follow love? Well, apparently he married Anya, Hunters sister." Coulson said instead of a welcome._

_ "Shit! And we were the ones that took him out when he started to sell secrets." Clint exclaimed. Natasha eyes widened a fraction, but for the assassin, that way a rather large display of emotioin._

_ "And his brother was part of SHIELD when that happened. He is a tech agent, and we are pretty sure that he is giving the info on the mission to Anya who is giving it to Hunter. But there is not enough evidence to do anything. This mission has become Level 8. Agents Ramirez and Evans, you have been temporarily granted clearance seeing as there is no time to get other agents with Natasha's new timeline."_

_ "Yes, sir," Max said, while Jesse nodded his head in acknowledgement._

_ The next day, Natasha arrived at the park ready for anything to happen. She had the complete Black Widow uniform on, guns and all. She was wearing a tan trench coat over the uniform, one that ended just before the knee to cover up the arsenal that she had on her body._

_ Hunter was sitting on a bench feeding pigeons, such a normal pastime for such a monster, that Natasha almost laughed. He was surrounded with thugs, thugs with many different nationalities. The one that really caught Natasha's attention was a young woman that looked about one year younger than her. She was Russian, and dressed very similarly to Natasha, but her weaponry was not concealed, or as high tech as the Black Widows. But this gorgeous young woman was probably the most dangerous of all of the men Hunter had surrounding him._

_ "Shit. Clint, we have a very big problem." Natasha whisper yelled into her com._

_ "What!," came the response._

_ "Young woman, about 25? Yeah, her name is Elena Travunskaya. She was part of the program. Her code name was Dark Shadow. When the KGB was brought down, she got out. Remember that we thought she was dead? She could recognize me, and then this whole mission will be blown."_

_ "I can just shoot them both and then you can take out all of the other thugs."_

_ "We need info Hawk. We can't let his Beta continue his work, because then we will have to find that person."_

_ "We know his beta is Anya. We can hunt her down. I don't want you risked like that. You are one of my best agents." Coulson said, and Clint grunted his agreement._

_ "I'm going to see what I can do. I've changed a lot since my days at the Red Room. And even if I am recognized, I beat her countless times in training. I can do it again. Dark Shadow never got past tenth in the rankings."_

_ "Nat, no! Please!" Clint shouted, but she already was walking to the bench, and Hunter saw her._

_ "Hello Nic." Anastasia said._

_ "Why, hello Anastasia. Came, sit down. Do you have an answer for me?"_

_ "Yes. I don't want you to get hurt, but I have had enough of David. Please get me out of here."_

_ "I am glad that you chose to join me. Let introduce you to my men. (_About forty to fifty introductions later) _And last but certainly not least, this lovely lady is Elena. She is my personal body guard. I found her close to death out in the Russian wastelands. She is a highly trained assassin. As a Russian yourself, you must know of the Black Widow? Well Elena here was trained by the same people who trained the Black Widow. She was even better than Widow."_

_ Dark Shadow narrowed her eyes at Natasha, as if trying to place her face, Black Widow smirked, Clint was muttering in the background about her suicidal tendencies, and Anastasia said, "Wow, how amazing. But what is that you do that requires so many guards?"_

_ "I am normally only with Elena in public, but one of my spies in America has told me that one of your husband's government agencies has sent an assassin after me. Rumor has it that it is the Black Widow herself. I have no doubt that Elena could take care of her, but I do not want to risk anything."_

_Anastasia gasped, saying "That is terrible. I would die if anything happened to you!"_

_ "I am glad that you think that way. But now I must tell you about what I really do. You see, I am a bit of a seller. Not of the wares that you would think of, but of people. They help people with visions achieve their dreams, whatever they may be."_

_ Natasha snarled at the description of his job. He was a slave dealer, nothing more, and nothing less than that. But none the less, she had to give him kudos at the creativity, and the way he made it seem like a glorious business. Now Clint was really pissed, and he was near shouting at Natasha to get out of there, and at Hunter, even if there was no way that he could actually hear the curses flowing out of the archer's mouth._

_ A few seconds passed, and Elena leaned to speak to Hunter's ear, probably to warn him away from this mysterious woman. He waved her off, saying, "Anything you have to say can be said in front of all off us."_

_ Dark Shadow growled, but said nothing. Nicodemeus looked inquiringly towards Anastasia, waiting for her response. _

_ Coulson spoke franticly in her ear, "Agent Romanoff, get your ass out of there. It is obvious that the woman recognizes you, but not fully yet. She will soon, and then you will get hurt. I am sending Evens and Ramirez in as your "husbands" guards who have come to find you. Get out, and we will find another way to get him. That is an order._

_ Natasha put her hands behind her back and signed something that only Clint would understand._

I have to do this. I can't pass up a chance to wipe this much red out of my ledger. Think of how many more children will be hurt if Hunter lives. Think of how many people's lives we can save if I take out another of the Red Rooms protégées. I am going to do this. You can't stop me.

_"Damn it Tasha. No! If you need to, I will shoot them both now, and the guards. Don't risk yourself!"_

_ She stood up, and completely eliminated Anastasia Baldacci, with her sweet little voice and defeated posture and expression. "So you are a human trafficker?"_

_ Hunter's eyebrows creased and a confused expression crossed his face._

_ "Excuse me?"_

_ "Yes, I know what you really do Hunter. You are a monster who ends the lives of others for a bit of paper to line your pockets. And the info that your man in America gave you, the info that came in through your sister in Africa, Anya? Completely true. You should be honored. Death by the Black Widow is a very good way to die." Natasha snarled, as she dropped her coat, revealing who she really was._

_ Elena's eyes widened, and she pulled out a gun. Widow shot one of her bites at her, effectively knocking her out so that she could deal with her later. Clint let out a curse that would have made a sailor blush as Natasha blew her cover. He immediately started to shoot at the guards, as Natasha took them down with her weapons, including her thighs. More came flooding out of the woods, so that when one fell, another took his place. Jesse and Max turned the corner, and where thrown into the center of a mini war zone. They started to shoot, but they were still new agents, and not all of them where kill shots. Man after man fell, but due to the sheer amount, several got away._

_ Hunter got over his initial shock, and started to run. But, because fate really hated the two assassins, Dark Shadow came to at that exact same moment._

_ "Hawkeye! Get Hunter" Natasha shouted, as she took down one of the last guards, before wading through the sea of bodies to get Elena._

_ Clint shot an arrow at Hunter before rappelling down the building, and rushing after him down one of the park paths._

_ Shadow was a red room assassin, and she snapped too instantaneously, before jumping up to face Widow._

_ It was truly a battle for the ages. They flipped and struck like feral tigresses, both landing blows, but never severe enough to kill. Widow was striking harder, and Shadow was slowly wearing down. But before either could land a fatal blow, one of the thugs that had been shot in the gut by either Evans or Ramirez, took a gun from one of his fallen comrades, and aimed at Widow. Her focus was entirely on Shadow, and she was trusting Max and Ramirez to take care of all the other guards, so she had no Idea what was coming her way. The bullet struck her in her ankle, completely shattering her bones. _

_ She faltered, only for a millisecond, and continued fighting, like the red room had made her. At this point, she was a ruthless assassin and her mind was completely taken over by the blood haze. This was the haze that had put her on SHIELD's hit lists. This was the haze that made her as dangerous as she was. This was the haze that she hated herself for, and the haze that she needed to be saved from. She would kill Clint when she was like this. _

_ She continued to strike at Ana, but the other woman had been trained at the red room to, and she had her own haze. It wasn't as strong, or as deadly as the Widows, but it told her exactly where she needed to strike to win._

_ She switched all of her attention to Widows right side, striking lower down. Widow was already ignoring the pain in her ankle, because the haze told her that if she favored it she would die. But the haze was wrong, because she did ignore the injury. She raised her right leg, and snapped it out, in a move that would regularly break ribs, when an opponent's arm was raised to strike her again, but all that happened was pain. It was almost enough to knock out the infamous Black Widow, and she fell. Shadow pulled out a knife, and as Widow surged back up to her feet, she rammed the blade deep into her gut. She fell once more, and blackness overtook her this time, and she remembered no more of Budapest._

* * *

"Then after that, the only memories that I have of that god forsaken place are fuzzy. It is your turn now. What do you remember that is so different?

* * *

**So yeas, PLEASE review to let me what you think. I was getting really excited writing this, and I hope you enjoyed this to. **

**I have one question for readers: If you are in GIN, can you please pm me, I have some questions for you, about the conference, seeing as I am going to the South American one.**

**Thanks for reading, now REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Why you make me so sad?!**

**Thank you to all my reviewers, and since there are so few of you, :'(, you each get an individual response. Thanks to all favoriters and followers, but to get personal response you have to review *Hint, Hint*:P. I am really great full to all yall for reviewing and supporting me.**

**GyMusicAddict: Thank you sooooooooo much. Your Praise really means a lot to me. One of my two job aspirations is to be a writer, so praises like this really give me hope for my future. As for my Budapest plot, it took three days to have up until here planed out, and then it takes me hours to think about the plot twists I want to put in, so thank you! Please keep reviewing!**

**PercyJacksonTheAwesome: I love cliffies, don't you? Anywho, thank you for the review, It really does keep me going when I get more than one *Cough, cough*. As for the more part, her it is**

**Tokyolove: Thank you, I am glad that you feel that way about my writing. I hoped that people would think this was creative and somewhat different than the others, so really, thank you.**

**This updates for you three:**

**-PAGEBREAK-**

"That was truly a hell hole. And to think it started out as a simple training mission." Clint stated, snapping out of the memory.

"I know." she said. "But there is no getting out of it. What happened to you?"

"Well, I was scared."

Three words that would usually mean nothing when used in a conversation. But to them, those three words practically meant that hell had frozen over, and that it was snowing in the Amazon.

Natasha snuggled closer to her lover, her best friend, trying to give him comfort.

"I ran out of the forest just in time to see you fall…"

-PAGEBREAK-

_He ran as fast as he could to get back to her, but he wasn't fast enough. He never had been. His family, his troop, and now the one woman he loved. _

_He had sworn he would never give his heart to another human being, after he had come back from Japan, but that oath had flown out the window that mission in Monaco, when she had been compromised. She was in danger, with men rushing in from all exits. He had a crazy ass idea to get her out, but he had to try to keep her safe. So he had called for the jet that had been circling to get them that instant, and asked her to jump out of the window. She had looked at him with wild eyes, her voice asking if he was crazy. But she did it. And he then knew that he had feelings for her. _

_But he had never known how bad those feelings really were. It was then he knew that he loved her, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He felt so cold, and out of the jumble of fear in his head, one thought rang true. He loved Natasha Romanoff, and that she had met her match, and was dying._

_ He burst out of the woods in time to see her fall._

_ "NO!" he screamed, wiping out an arrow to kill the bitch that had hurt Natasha. But he wasn't fast enough. She hit the ground seconds after Nat, and he fell to his knees next to his love, clutching her body to his. He went numb with loss, and all that he could hear was his voice speaking her name over and over again. But then came a sound, a sound that had in truth saved him, and would always keep him on this plane of life. Natasha's heartbeat. Faint, like a newborn bird's wings, but it was there. He turned to see Coulson holding Ramirez and Evans back, giving him time to grieve._

_ "She's not gone yet." He croaked out, and the three others rushed over._

_Max, being their best in field medics, rushed to her and went straight to work, but when he tried to push Clint away, to give him better access to Natasha's small form, he snarled at him, and a feral look came over his eyes._

_ "We have to get out of here. There is a safe house about a mile from here." Coulson said, knowing that Clint was not going to let go of Romanoff for at least an hour(if he ever did)._

_ So they went. They used every trick known to mankind to avoid any pursuers By the time they reached the tiny hut in bum-fuck Hungary, they were all exhausted, and the Black Widow's heart beat was fading, to the point that even Hawkeye, with his almost supernatural hearing, could barely hear it._

_ He put her down on the single bed, kneeling next to her bed and holding her hand like it was a lifeline._

_ Max was in extreme med mode, and nobody in the room could tell you what he really did, even if you had the clearance. He got Natasha stabilized, which was an extreme feat, considering the med supplies that they had were close to none._

_ Coulson organized watches, excluding Clint, outing them on three hour revolving schedules, so that Clint would feel safer, and so that maybe he would get some sleep._

_ Despite that, he spent the entire night at Natasha's bedside, talking to her, about past missions, his life, what he wanted in the future, and when he ran out of topics, he began to sing._

_ He sang country, Coldplay, Maroon 5, anything he could think of. This went on for three days. Natasha's condition was slowly deteriorating, and there was nothing they could do about it. Somehow, Hunter's men had been searching the towns around the location they were staying at, and were close to finding out where they were._

_ And on the fourth day, the fan broke from all of the shit that was hitting it. Hunter's men found them. Natasha's wound had begun to get infected, so they had had to venture out to find meds. But in doing so, they had left a trail, and they were being punished for it._

_ They fought for about five minutes, with Barton and Evans guarding Natasha; Max standing at the door, and Clint by the bed, getting all stragglers. At the end of the five minutes, Coulson and Ramirez rushed past Max._

_ "We gotta go. Someone called in reinforcements. We might have been able to do it with Natasha, but she is obviously not here to fight. Clint, get her, we have to leave." Coulson said, out of breath. He would usually have Hawk cover the retreat, but, as an assassin, he could lock one objective in his mind, and nothing else would matter. And now, he was going to protect his partner._

_ "I'll stay and keep your path clear for as long as a can" Max stated gravely, making the sacrifice call._

_ "No, you can't, they'll kill you!" Jesse shouted._

_ "But you all will be safe. It is my choice."_

_Coulson nodded, but said no more. Clint even put Natasha down very briefly, to hug him, having no words to acknowledge the sacrifice._

_ Clint carrying Natasha once more, and Jesse, after a tearful goodbye with his best friend, climbed out the window. When they reached the edge of the woods, they turned to see Max begin fighting like a madman, taking his last stand._

_ Phil put a hand on Jesse's arm, and started to pull him into the woods. He fought, but it was feeble. He was tired and he understood what was at stake. While Max was a great agent and an asset to SHIELD, Natasha was the Black Widow, the greatest assassin there was, and if you lost her you lost Hawkeye, the best marksman the world has seen. While SHIELD would continue, the loss of their best agents would affect them greatly._

_ They ran into the woods, and they were about a mile away when the gunshots ceased, and Clint must have heard something, his eyes hardening. Jesse let out a sob, and fell a few feet back._

_ "They are going to be on us soon. We have to do something." Coulson told Clint, when he reached him._

_ "I know" he said simply._

_ "You don't mean…." He trailed off, and Clint nodded affirmative.,_

_ Phil knew how fucked up shit had to be for him to go there so he didn't protest anymore. He changed their course, and picked up the pace, Ramirez adjusting accordingly._

_-PAGEBREAK-_

"We decided to go to her, and nothing much significant happened after that…"

"Liar. We must have spent at least two weeks with her. That slut had to have pulled at least one move to get you back once she realized you are the best." She said sharply, her voice filled with venom for the woman.

There was a silence, and after a few minutes, Clint collected Natasha in his arms, pulling her close as if to confirm that she really was there.

"That can come tomorrow" he whispered. "We need our sleep before the debriefs attack."

She merely nodded, and snuggled under the covers, and rested her head on his chest; her favorite pillow.

-PAGEBREAK-

**Okay yall that is it for our favorite assassins Budapest story.**

**JK, I have a bit more I want to happen…ok, a lot, but I want to put a bunch more things before I really end their Budapest tale. I'll put snippets in most chapters, and the main part of the flashbacks will be over by the time Loki leaves earth.**

**Now on to some other business…REVIEW! I know this is what every author says, but really, it is much needed encouragement. I am not well known enough to actually have people want me to write something for them, but I don't care, so here is a bit of incentive. Every tenth reviewer (30th, 40th, 50th, etc.) Will get to ask me to do something, but as long as it is not too personal. How old are you, what color is you hair, will you write me a story about_ is fine, but things like what neighborhood do you live in, I will ignore. Sorry, but it is for safety reasons. Oh, and if you can guess who _her_ is, you get a question as well. So press that button and let me know what you think.**


	6. Chapter 6

**And I'm back! Thanks to all reviewers: Morgan, PercyJaacksonTheAwesome, Precious93, Anini Mouse, ArtGirlie815, and NinjaInPajamas99. Thank you all very much for your support, it really means a lot to me as that number climbs.**

**And congratulations to the reviewer Anini Mouse who guessed who "her" was correctly. I hope your day got even batter after that morning. Anywho, you get one request, so PM me, or review again. And please let me know if you want the response to be public, or private, ya know, it's up to you. And for people who won't read her review: Bobbi Morse will be making an appearance in Budapest. If you like her, than you might want to stop reading, because I am going to REALLY bash her. Cuz I want her to die. So just a warning.**

**Artgirlie815, thanks for trying to guess.**

**And a shout out to reviewer of chapter 2, IaMcHrIsSi, here is your Pepper!**

**Now READ! Read exidedly!**

**(and I still don't own it, obviously)**

* * *

Any other human beings, after all the physical stress their bodies had been through, would have collapsed. But in reality, when she said she had wanted at least twelve hours to sleep, in reality, she meant she would sleep as long as the nightmares let her. Then, until her allotted twelve hours of rest were over, she would make sure that he was really there, and not just another cruel joke.

Unless it was physically impossible for him to continue, he wouldn't get more than three hours of sleep that night. He had added to much red in his ledger when he had been with Loki. As it was, he could barely blink without seeing the names, the families, the faces, flashing in his mind. He would stay awake as long as he could, then he would turn to her and watch her sleep, watch her breath, to make sure that she wouldn't leave him.

* * *

They both ended falling asleep around two in the morning, comforted by the fact no one would even think of disturbing them until ten. Natasha fell into an uneasy sleep, but thankfully, her dreams were that of Budapest, a battle she had long since come to rest with. But when her dreams turned to Clint's side of the story, she began to think of all she could have lost. She woke up with cold sweat trickling off of her face, gasping. But she hadn't screamed, telling her that it could have been much worse. When she glanced at the clock, the glowing numbers showed that it was five thirty two in the morning. Natasha turned her head to Clint, wondering how long it would be until she would inevitably have to wake him up.

Clint had actually only fallen asleep an hour after Natasha, and got what he would later estimate to be three hours of dreamless sleep. The nightmares attacked soon afterward. He relived every moment of his slavery under Loki. He remembered that when he reached the hellicarrier, after he had blown up everything, when he was on his way to the detention cells, he had wanted Nat to come find him. He had wanted her to come, so he could kill her in just the way the Red room had told her they would if she left them, or turned. He had wanted it so bad it had almost made him sick. Then, when she came, the one corner of his mind that was still him was screaming at her to kill him, but it hadn't worked. But in this nightmare, he caught her. When she should have knocked Loki out of his head, he got her. The things that he had done to her were unthinkable, and his traitorous mind had left him in the scene until he was about to put her misery, he woke up screaming.

At 615, Clint jolted up, screaming and shaking. Honestly, it scared the crap out of Natasha. It always had (not that she'd show it or admit to it), and when he did this, she knew exactly what to do, She immediately sat on his lap so that he could get a full view of her face, so that she could convince her that this was the reality, not whatever horrible vision he had just come out of. She put her hands on his face and started to speak rapidly, in all languages that they knew. They had found out years ago that the more languages Natasha spoke when calming him, the faster he would come back to reality. They guessed it was because he would only dream in one or two languages, so the more she spoke, the more his mind would be able to tell that it was not a dream.

She saw it as his eyes focused on her, and he stopped trashing. He was just trembling, but when she went to comfort him further, he pulled away. He got up from the bed, and went into the bathroom. She could hear the water running as his breathing slowed down. When he reentered the room, he sat down on the ground next to the bed, his face completely emotionless. Natasha sat down next to him, and when she tried to put her hand on his arm and he pulled away, she realized it must have been something to do with him hurting her.

"You wanna tell me about it?" was all she said, and his only response was to turn his face away from her.

They sat like that until about 7 when Natasha's eyes began to flutter shut. Then her eys just closed, and she slumped a bit forward. It was only then that Clint gently pulled her head onto his lap, thought back to the dream. He knew he would have to tell her eventually. But today was not the day. It was too soon after the incident. He just needed a few days to get his shit together, than he would open up to her. After the debriefs and phycology, he would tell her.

She woke up two hours later, greeted by the familiar sent of sweat, pine, and oranges, the very unique sent of Clint Barton. She smiled when he started to stroke her hair. She looked up to see him reading a book.

"g'mornin gorgeous." He said with a smirk.

She reached up to playfully slap his face, before rolling over to stand up and stretch. The incident last night had not slipped her mind, but she knew that he wouldn't tell her for a while. Just as she wouldn't tell him about her dream, and unless she woke screaming like he had, she wouldn't have to tell him.

"Let's go see is the mess hall prepared some glorious slop for the heroes." Clint said.

"We could have saved the entire human race, and they wouldn't change the food." Natasha chuckled.

* * *

They exchanged more friendly banter as they got dressed and made the bed in quick military precision. As they entered the mess hall, the majority of people ignored them, which the duo preferred. But on the table that they would usually sit at with Agent Ramirez, they found the Avengers team.

"There spidey and legolas are!" Stark said, "We were beginning to think you had lost your way!"

Steve slapped him upside the head, while bidding the assassins good morning with the rest of the team. After Clint and Natasha grabbed the mush SHIELD called eggs, and coffee, they sat, and the conversations began.

"The first brief is at 11:15, in the main deck" Steve informed them, which gave them an hour and forty-five minutes to relax.

"THIS FORTRESS DOES NOT CARRY THE FOOD OF GODS YOU CALL POPTARTS!" Thor shouted.

Bruce grimaced, saying, "Inside voices Thor, remember that."

"So birdy, Natalie, I was thinking we should split the damage cost on the tower between everyone, seeing as it was all your Faults." Tony informed them, and receiving twin glares in return.

This continued for thirty minutes, until Widow and Hawk got up to go train. They walked out, ignoring all questions, as this was their custom.

When they got to the training room, it was pretty empty, seeing as all trainees would be in classes, and all others would be at work. When Natasha headed to the mats where she would usually spar with the hawk, he turned away to the shooting ranges, and pulled out his bow. She guessed it must have something to do with his nightmare, so she thought nothing of it.

After an hour of beating punching bags to death, Natasha unwrapped her knuckles, and headed over to the range. She waited five minutes until Clint went to retrieve his arrows before letting him know they had to leave for the meeting now.

On the way back, they stopped at their dorm, where she changed into a pair of jeans, a red tank top, and a leather jacket, while he put on a pair of jeans and a black shirt with a SHIELD logo on it. On the way to the main deck, Natasha strapped her gun to her thigh, while Clint checked the sheath for the knife he always carried on him.

* * *

When they got there, Steve was sitting down, Thor stood nearby, Bruce was sitting down with his head resting on his crossed arms, Fury standing at his control center, and Stark nowhere in sight. When the assassins took their seats, Fury gave each of them a formal nod, and sighed when he saw that Stark was missing. Then he smiled, which was creepier than his glare, mainly because it was _that_ type of smile.

"Well, we did have a little present for Stark, but it seems we will have to turn that gift on him" Fury stated, motioning for an agent to go find the infamous playboy. Then another agent walked in, leading a VERY pissed looking Pepper Potts.

Pepper smiled at each of the avengers, and told Natasha that they would have to get a drink sometime. Natasha just told her she knew a nice place down the road from the tower.

Any further conversation was cut off by Tony being led into the room. His face went through literally ten emotions in the span of a few second when he saw Pepper: Happiness, love, shame, fear (when he saw her face), placating, Hopeful (when she started heading towards him), fear (he saw her face yet again), pain when she slapped him, and embarrassment when the avengers chuckled.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME?! I WAS WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HORRIBLE IT IS TO WATCH THE MAN YOU LOVE FLY INTO A BLACK HOLE, THEN FALL OUT, UNCONSCIOUS!"

"Now Pepper, you-"

"DON'T YOU DARE 'NOW PEPPER' ME, AFTER ALL YOU PUT ME THROUGH! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD. I KEPT WAITING TO SEE IT ON THE NEWS, OR TO GET THAT PHONECALL! AND EVEN AFTER YOU SAVED THE WORLD, NOT EVEN A PHONECALL! YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST CALLED AND SAID 'HEY PEPPER, I PICKED UP THE EGGS, THE WORLD IS SAFE, AND I'M NOT DEAD!"

"Pepper, plea-"

"AND _YOU_," shouted the force known as Pepper as she turned on Fury, "YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED TO LET ME KNOW I DIDN'T HAVE TO ARRANGE A FUNERAL, OR-"

"PEPPER" Tony shouted, getting the woman's attention. "I am So sorry. I had other things on my mind." He grabbed her arms, turning her to face him, "I wouldn't let something as little as death keep me from you. Especially because your father doesn't like me yet. And universal law says that everyone must like me. Especially the family of the woman that I LOVE."

"Tony, did you just say…"

"YES Pepper, I LOVE YOU! I have been trying to gather up the courage to tell you that since the day I came back from Afghanistan." Tony said, before giving her a kiss that might not have been appropriate for a public place.

Hill stepped out of the shadows, startling everyone but Natasha, Clint, and Fury, who had known she had been there the entire time. She glared at the technicians in the room, and they all blushed before turning back to their work.

Tony and Pepper broke apart, Pepper whispering, "Well, I love you to, and I have waited a long time to tell you that."

Fury cleared his through awkwardly. That was Fury for you: good at giving commands, not so good at breaking apart make out sessions. Tony gave him the finger, but when Pepper glared at him, he sat down. But, being tony, he made sure to pull Pepper down to sit in his lap. Pepper just sighed, being very used to his antics.

"Let's get this shit started. Years ago, an idea was formed…

*Thirty boring minutes of boring how the avengers initiative was formed later*

…Barton, stop talking to Romanoff and pay attention!" Fury shouted before beginning again.

(Five minutes earlier) "BS" Natasha whispered before flipping his set of cards to reveal that *gasp* she was right.

"You're too good at this. I give up."

"Well duh, I taught you how to REALLY lie. Of course I know when you are lying."

"It's not fair, I'll never win this"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"Then….we need a new meeting game. What about K-"

"Barton, stop talking to Romanoff and pay attention!" Fury shouted "Now, as I was saying…"

Natasha chuckled under her breath, and a bit louder when Clint swatted at her leg. Fury turned to glare at her, asking "Is there something you would like to share with the class?"

"Yes sir. This is boring shit, and, if we did our homework, we would know this stuff. Can we please get on to what this meeting is really about?"

* * *

**Ok, I'm not too happy with how this chapter turned out, or with how long it took me to get this out, but, meh. I got a very bad case of writers block. I couldn't even write my history essay, let alone this. But anyways here it is. I had originally wanted to finish the meeting, but Fury is being difficult. So we will have the meeting, maybe something else, in the next chapter, than another Budapest for all my lovelies. Just saying all that so you do not hate me.**

**So, now on to other business. REVIEW! It really helps. Give me suggestions, flames, likes, dislikes, really anything.**

**Now Review My lovelies!**


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